1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC card connector to be used for inputting a signal to, and outputting a signal from, an IC card inserted, and more particularly, to an IC card connector which requires accurate positioning in relation to a contact of the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The IC card is a card within which an integrated circuit having microprocessing and memory functions is embedded. External equipment, for instance a personal computer, a digital camera, etc., which performs information processing by use of such an IC card as a medium, is provided with an IC card connector provided with a plurality of terminals corresponding to contacts arranged on the bottom surface of the IC card.
The IC card connector is used with an IC card inserted into a card slot. After the completion of insertion of the IC card into the card slot, the IC card is held in the state that each contact is in contact with each terminal of the connector, so that signals can be inputted and outputted. That is, as shown in FIG. 14A, when the IC card 1 is inserted fully into the card slot 2a of the connector 2, each contact la disposed on the bottom surface of the IC card 1 contacts each terminal 3 of the connector 2 with a contact portion 3a protruded into the card slot 2a. Therefore, if the IC card 1 inserted in the card slot 2a is not in a specific loading position, the contact 1a of the IC card 1 is not in contact with the corresponding terminal 3 as shown in FIG. 14B. In this case, proper input and output of signals can not be performed.
The IC card connector generally incorporates a detection switch which detects whether or not the insertion of the IC card into the card slot is completed. The detection switch is designed to be actuated by the IC card immediately before the completion of card insertion to thereby turn on and off the contact section. Therefore, the detection switch will not operate when incompletely inserted as shown in FIG. 14B for example. It is, therefore, possible to prevent, by the use of this detection switch, a malfunction resulting from defective contact between the contact of the IC card and the connector terminal and impairment of electronic components likely to occur in the case they contact to each other at an undesirable position.
The IC card connector usually incorporates a detection switch for detecting the completion of insertion of the IC card as described above. The IC card, however, is not provided with a means by which the user inserting the IC card into the IC card connector can definitely feel that the IC card has been properly inserted. The user can see the completion of IC card insertion when the IC card inserted has come into contact at the forward end with the innermost part in the card slot of the connector and can not be pushed further inward. To the user, IC card insertion, if a little incomplete, makes no big difference from proper insertion; therefore the user is likely to make the mistake that the IC card is fully inserted notwithstanding the IC card is held partway in the connector.
If the IC card is held in the connector in an incompletely inserted state due to the user's mistake, the detection switch will not operate, so that no malfunction of the detection switch will occur and the electronic components will not be impaired. In this case, however, no signal is inputted and outputted, and user is apt to mistake this state of the switch as a trouble. Particularly, when an IC card which requires correct positioning after complete insertion in relation to the connector is used, the detection switch tends to operate immediately before the completion of IC card insertion. If, in this case, the user mistakes that the IC card has been properly inserted, the equipment using the IC card will fail to work properly or the electronic components will be impaired.